I built a system for my 14 year old daughter around a Henry Kloss Model 88 radio (no cd player built in). Cost was 99 dollars for a b-stock unit obtained on-line from Cambridge Sound Works, although I think you'd have to e-bay one now since I hear it's out of production. Sound is very, very good for a table radio (she proudly calls it her "stereo"), and definitely better than the bose table radio at much less cost. Way better than the small Tivoli table radio as well (I own the bose and Tivoli also). The Kloss is plenty loud for an apartment, and it's extremely unobtrusive. Works just great on a bookshelf. She uses a little portable cd player sometimes, hooked up to the AUX input, and other times she connects her I-pod. Or she uses the headphone output for nighttime listening. It has a nice little remote control, which is great these days for when she's practicing her violin with Bach's Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin and she wants to change tracks easily from her chair.
Your friend could rip the cd's to the I-pod and store the cd's, thus obviating the need for a cd player. There's a newer Kloss radio with cd built in, but that's over budget.
